Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?
by musicality7437
Summary: Years later, the heroes and villains of Frozen have all passed on - all except the littlest princess. Anna wanders through the palace, alone and abandoned, on the brink of rejoining her friends. But first, she's got to brave one last great adventure.


"Elsa?" Anna's hoarse voice echoed down the dark, dusty hallway as she hobbled toward the door that opened into her sister's bedroom. Cobwebs clung desperately to the dusky brown surface. She pressed her pale, wrinkled cheek carefully to the smooth wood, powdery from the dust of years. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

The shadows were laughing at her - she could hear them, dark and ethereal. They enveloped her, mocking her, scorning her, hurting her...

She scratched feebly at the door, unsure if her brittle fingers would withstand the force of knocking. "Come on, let's go and play," she whispered urgently, ever-mindful of the darkness creeping closer. There was so much she wanted to say, _had_ to say, and so little time. "I never see you anymore," she confided to the worn wood. "Come out the door. It's like you've gone away..."

Anna trailed off into a dry cough that wracked her entire body with pain. Then - there was someone behind her. She knew it, it was _real _this time. It had to be. She turned, bones creaking in protest, the motion causing cobwebs to flutter down around her on invisible air currents. Her tired eyes widened and she took an involuntary breath, back pressed to the door.

Hans's smiling form was emerging from the twilight, holding out his hand, beckoning to her. "Love is an open door," he murmured, his eyes piercing the depths of her soul and compelling her forward. He was so perfect, so gorgeous, so utterly trusting and loving. How could she not? The hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she took a hesitant step forward, hand reaching out.

"Hans..." she sighed, brushing a stray gray hair out of her eyes, stumbling forward in earnest now. "Hans, you came back for me - "

His smile twisted, eyes darkening in wicked glee. "Oh, Anna," he hissed, snatching his hand from her feeble fingertips. "If only there was someone out there who loved you."

"No..." she recoiled in horror as Hans's silhouette dissolved into the murky darkness, still wearing an evil smirk. "No! Hans!" Then she was falling forward into the inky blackness, falling on her hands and knees and sobbing into the ancient, rotted carpet.

A hand on her shoulder - she whirled in terror. But it was just Kristoff. Oh, thank god. Kristoff. He smiled down at her wordlessly, kindness and caring and something that she dared to call "love" in his liquid eyes. She laughed then, a nervous laugh, and allowed Kristoff to help her to her feet, leaning into his strong form. "Oh, Kristoff," she murmured. "You frightened me."

He smiled again, a bit brighter (if such a thing were possible), and held a single finger to his lips. _Shh_, his eyes seemed to say. _Calm_. _Sleep_.

Anna sagged into him, taking refuge in his sturdiness. "Kristoff, where have you been?" she mumbled. "I was looking for Elsa, and then Hans was here, and Kristoff, there was something important, something I needed to..." Ah. But her train of thought escaped her as a lazy warmth curled around her like a soft fur cloak, soothing her aching bones and whispering her pain away with golden words. If she would just lay down, and rest, and close her eyes...

Anna's eyes snapped open with a jolt. She looked around frantically. Where was - Kristoff? But he was shrinking, receding, melting into the blackness, smile still plastered to his face. Leaving her. Just like the rest of them.

She whimpered and crawled her way along the carpet back to the door, back to Elsa. "Elsa," she moaned weakly. "Please, I know you're in there..." Another coughing spasm left her in paralyzing agony. "They say have courage, and I'm trying to... Just let me in."

Anna leaned against the door, cheek pressed to the wood, breath coming in ragged gasps. The murky twilight was closer now, and the drifting cobwebs were entangling her in their white lace, and it was getting harder to think. "We only have each other," she pleaded. "Just you and me. What are we gonna do?"

She only wondered vaguely if everyone's death was this frightening as she slid slowly to the floor, limbs going cold and hot and numb at once. There were sunspots on her eyes, just a few, but suddenly there were more and more and more and a ringing in her ears, and she was dimly aware of her head limply falling to her chest. "Do you wanna... build a... snowman?" she whispered, trailing off as the sunspots covered her vision and the numbness traveled up from her arms and legs to choke her heart.

The door flung open and Elsa was silhouetted in the gathering dusk, smiling down at her baby sister. She opened her arms wide and said, "I do."

Anna closed her eyes as the ice shot through her veins, and smiled.


End file.
